Harford GOP committee candidate takes aim [Letter]

Letter to The Aegis

Apparently, the list of filed Republican Central Committee candidates so threatened Harford County's delegates that they filed the emergency bill HB 1513 to "fix" the problem. Republicans from the grassroots to the Chair of the MD GOP have since voiced strong opposition to the bill.

Voters elect Central Committees, so members are accountable to them; not to politicians. Committees operate independently of government, carrying out local party business, promoting the party platform, and selecting replacements for elected office vacancies when the need arises.

HB 1513 would grant Harford's state delegates permanent membership on the Committee by fiat, allowing them to remove duly-elected members and fill the resulting vacancies. Even delegates living in Baltimore County, who are ineligible to serve on Harford's Committee, would be allowed to decide the Committee's makeup. The bill would also prohibit any elected official in Harford County - other than these delegates, of course - from simultaneously serving on the Committee.

Delegates Impallaria, Szeliga, and McDonough have offered nothing but demonstrably false justifications for this bill, citing ludicrous moral equivalencies to conceal their ham-handed attempt to thwart the will of the very voters who elect them. Delegate McComas has also declared support of the bill. Other delegates have remained mum. Silence is complicity.

These delegates seek the support of TEA Party activists during election season, then enlist the help of Annapolis Democrats to silence them when challenged. As recently as last week, one delegate made public statements calling for the removal of certain existing Committee members, thus contradicting the Delegation's claims that this bill is a benign solution for filling vacancies.

Republicans already deal with enough tyranny from the Democrats in Annapolis. We don't need more from delegates in our own party. The Delegation must listen to the voters and MD GOP leadership and immediately withdraw this pretended act of legislation.